1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a design for a large capacity wheel loader, the wheel loader also having a rotatable cab, a hydraulically pivotable bucket arrangement, as well as a design allowing for the disassembly of the wheel loader into small pieces for transport.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wheel loaders are used in mining operations to move material such as coal, rock, iron ore and sand oil. Currently the largest wheel loader 1 am aware of is the L-2350 by LeToureau, Inc. The L-2350 can lift up to 85 cubic yards of coal in its bucket. The L-2350 provides an operating payload of 160,000 lbs, has a 24 foot lift height, an 11.5 foot reach, has a 2300 horsepower Detroit Diesel engine.
However, the L-2350 has the following drawbacks. Because of its welded construction, the L-2350 can not be disassembled into small pieces for transport. Since the L-2350 is a large and bulky machine, moving the L-2350 becomes difficult. Also, there is a need for a larger bucket size in applications like in oil sand extraction and in coal mining. For example, there is a need for a very large capacity loader that can be used to load oil sand in places like the Athabasca oil sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta Canada. These oil sands contain bitumen, and if upgraded, can produce synthetic crude oil. In this oil sand operation, what is needed is a wheel loader with a large capacity and that can be operated with just one operator.
The current L-2350 is greatly limited due to its limited capacity. Also, the four wheel design in the L-2350 is insufficient as wheels often spin and are unable to obtain good traction. What is therefore needed is a wheel loader with a much larger capacity than the L-2350, that has good traction and is capable of moving more material in a shorter length of time using just one operator. This needed wheel loader needs to be suitable for the removal of a large amount of surface material, coal from a coal mine or tar sand or oil sand from the Athabasca, and would be able to remove a larger amount of material quicker and with less cost than current wheel loaders.